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Online Edition
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COVER FEB 28th 2009
REGULARBACK COVER
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Shadows 
Youngsters who prefer mobiles over books Ever since this local body came into being, corruption has increased. The councilors mainly illiterate do not have the basic knowledge of dealing with public grievances. They are busy in sanctioning big contracts to their favorites. Ever since mobile telephone service was started in Kashmir Valley, an unprecedented boom in the mobile sector has been witnessed as more than 3 mobile operators have managed to get hold of above 25 lakh subscribers. Most of the mobile users are youngsters who pa y the usage charges from pocket money. The extensive usage of these phones by youth is directly affecting the business of comic books vendors and STD- PCO owners who suffer a huge loss in their business. “These young boys and girls are spending huge amount of money these days on mobile phones. Some years back they used to spend hours at book shops reading assorted type of books and magazines,” Bilal Ahmed a book vendor at Regal Chowk, laments. According to Bilal the young boys and girls used to spend a lot on purchasing books that would also help booksellers to earn their living. Interestingly, various mobile companies have introduced their designer and attractive mobile sets in the market and the youth usually get attracted to such sets. Ahmed Says “he has observed almost 60 percent reduction in youth customers since the arrival of mobile phones”. Recalling his fine days, he says “There was a time when youngsters after returning from schools, colleges and university used to throng my stall and the sale of a day used to be around more than Rs1000, but today only a hand full of customers visit which has affected the sale”. Similarly, the PCO owners are also facing the same music. They have also observed large fall in the customer inflow over the past 5years. “The owners of these shops used to earn Rs 10,000 a day, but with the introduction of mobile services in the valley they are not even earning 200 rupees now”, Tariq Ahmed Wani, PCO-STD owner at Regal Chowk, says. “Our sales have gone down by more than 80 percent, he claims. The youth are sacrificing items including luxurious ones for communication gadgets and telecom services, thus affecting the market materially”, he adds. Even the people from all ages can be seen using cell phones, however, the bulk of the users are the young ones, who recharge their phones almost 3-4 times in a day. “The impact of mobile phones has been observed globally and the impact has come from developed countries”, renowned Sociologist Bashir Ahmed Dabla, explains. “Even the impact of service has been observed more in metro politician city like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai than in Kashmir,” he observes. The mobile services have changed the behavior, life style of an individual who feels that his whole life is in this gadget, he can forget his book or note book but cannot forget to take his mobile with him. “Presently, Information Technology (IT) revolution has engulfed the whole world but after a decade the affect of it will not be the same as these young buds-with the passage of time will be able to differentiate between moderate and excessive use”, Dr. Dabla hopes. When asked how far the parents are responsible for the intense behavior of his child, Dabla says “To great extent they feel that they are exposing their child to certain technologies but at the same time they forget that the technology should not be used in a way that it will affect the life of their children”. -THIS REPORT IS PREPARED BY PBI |
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